Ben Westerham
ALLi Author Member
Location: United Kingdom
Genres: Humour, Crime, Espionage, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Short/Flash Fiction Collection, Thriller
Ben spent many, many years writing in what he describes as bits and pieces, never finding the impetus to take things further. Eventually, the need to do more forced him to head out to lunch one day with an old foolscap desk diary in which he started writing his first novel. The result was utter rubbish. But it didn’t matter because Ben now knew beyond any doubt that he could write a novel from beginning to end. He hasn’t looked back since and is now madly trying to catch up on all those ‘lost’ years. Ben now writes predominantly crime, mystery and thriller stories, where the emphasis is on strongly developed characters. Since Ben has a pretty decent sense of humour himself, this often finds its way into his writing, even in some of his darker stories, where it can act as a welcome bit of light relief. As well as his longer form works, Ben writes an on-going series of short stories that venture into the darker recesses of the human mind. Born in London and brought up in Kent in the south-east of England, Ben now lives in rural Northamptonshire in the English Midlands, with his family and a heavily over-worked computer. Oh, and he loves to tuck into a regular supply of plain chocolate.
Ben Westerham's books
Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery
Formats: E-Book, Paperback, Hardback
Age Groups: 16-18, 18+
Hide and seek may be child’s play, but murder most certainly is not. Summer 1959. When murder comes to the garden party of the Reverend George Sixpence, the curmudgeonly Inspector Leslie Dykeman and the irascible Sergeant Stanley Shapes are despatched from Banbury police station to apprehend the killer. Arriving at the splendid Victorian vicarage, Dykeman and Shapes find a group of suspects riddled with envy, bitterness and contempt for one another. As the two policemen struggle to uncover meaningful clues and Dykeman finds himself distracted by the arrival of pathologist Dr Sheila Delph, the killer stalks their next victim. This is one game the two policemen cannot afford to lose, but it seems as if the killer is out-playing them at every turn and it begins to look like there will be only one winner. The Hide and Seek Murders is the first in a classic murder mystery series set...
Genres: Mystery
Formats: E-Book, Paperback
When murder strikes at a village fete, even the crows are asking, who wanted the scarecrow dead? The sun is shining, the bunting is fluttering, and the village of Staunton is alive with the excitement of its annual fete and scarecrow festival. But amid the laughter and merriment, darkness lurks. Before the first morning is done, a woman, dressed as a scarecrow, is found dead in an isolated spot on the edge of the village. Inspector Leslie Dykeman and the irascible Sergeant Stanley Shapes, attending the festivities in an unofficial capacity, are swiftly drawn into a case riddled with secrets, envy, and deception. Behind Staunton’s picture-perfect charm lies a tangled web of old grudges and hidden motives, any of which could be a reason to kill. But can Dykeman and Shapes untangle all these secrets and lies, and answer the crows’ question, who wanted the scarecrow dead? Death of a...
Genres: Espionage
Formats: E-Book, Paperback
A high stakes game of espionage in the best traditions of The Thirty-Nine Steps. Spring 1912. Trainee solicitor, Alexander Templeman, boards the night-train north from London, feeling guilty at having left it so long since he last visited his godparents in the lowland hills of Scotland. Little does he know that his journey is taking him to the most terrifying experience of his life. But when the challenge comes, will the inexperienced young man be up to the job or will he succumb to an unrelenting struggle with a cunning foe, that has as it’s prize not only his own life but the very future of the country he adores?
Genres: Crime
Formats: E-Book
Meet, for the first time, David Good, Private Investigator. Plying his trade in 1980s South London, the PI with pliable morals, a taste for blondes and a full-on sense of humour, turns out to be a big softie as he takes up the challenge of sorting out yet another domestic mess. Having discovered that one Alice Jones, a young woman with a well-developed taste for strawberries, has a varied and not entirely honest life, he quickly finds himself wrestling with emotions he'd prefer would go away. As it is, they leave him confused and struggling to work out what he should do with the woman. Join Good on this little jaunt through South London and ask yourself what you would do next.